Our March 2019 newsletter is available HERE! Happy Searching!
Month: March 2019
Free Webinar from NEHGS/American Ancestors – 21 March 2019
Using and Evaluating Published Genealogies
Following the advent of American genealogy in the early to mid-19th century, thousands of genealogies were published featuring families across the country. While largely uncited—and arguably biased—these early works continue to be an important resource for modern day family historians. Join Lead Genealogist of the Early New England Families Study Project and frequent contributor to the Vita Brevis blog, Alicia Crane Williams, to learn how you can access, evaluate, and utilize early published family histories in your research.
Click HERE to Register.
From iBerkshires: Pine Cobble Alumnus Give Students DNA Lesson
By Rebecca Dravis – iBerkshires Staff – Sunday, March 03, 2019
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Before Tyler DeWitt did a TED Talk, before he had a website and a YouTube channel, before he received his Ph.D. in microbiology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, before he taught high school chemistry and biology in both the United States and South Korea, before he was a National Science Foundation fellow, he was just a student at Pine Cobble School.
On Feb. 27, DeWitt returned to the private school from which he graduated in 1997. It wasn’t his first time back; he actually spoke at the school’s commencement ceremony in 2013 and helped facilitate a STEAM summer camp session in 2018. And as often as he can, he comes back to Pine Cobble to try to make science fun for this generation of students.
And so on Feb. 27, in front of the school’s students who were as little as pre-K and kindergarteners and as big as eighth- and ninth-graders, DeWitt bounced around the room to give an energetic science lesson on a subject that could potentially be scary: DNA.
That’s deoxyribonucleic acid, not something to do with the “appetite of dinosaurs,” as one student suggested.
“You can see why people use the abbreviation,” DeWitt said.
Using a combination of slides and audience participation, an energetic DeWitt walked the students through the meaning of DNA. DNA determines a person’s traits or characteristics, like eye color or height, or even the characteristics of a plant, like what color flowers it has or how big its leaves are. DNA is found in every part of the body, in the nucleus of cells, he said, showing pictures of cells magnified to give the students a clearer idea of what he was talking about.
“They’re so tiny that you need hundreds or thousands to see even one,” he said.
The best science, of course, is hands-on, and so DeWitt came prepared to lead the students on an exploration of their own DNA. He wasn’t able to do that during his presentation, as they ran out of time, but he demonstrated with his own body and assured the students he was providing their teachers the materials they needed to do the experiment back in their classroom.
This was after he assured the students the experiment would be painless, after one student suggested they would need needles to extract DNA.
“This is silly and fun and it doesn’t hurt at all,” he said.
From “The Associated Press” – February 28, 2019
Stephen and Tabitha King give $1.25M to Genealogical Society
BOSTON (AP) — Stephen King and his wife, fellow novelist Tabitha King, have donated $1.25 million to the New England Historic Genealogical Society.
The Kings made the gift through their foundation.
The Boston-based organization is the nation’s oldest and largest genealogical society. It says it will use the gift announced Tuesday to develop educational programming and fund a curriculum in family history for public school students.
It will also help the organization expand its headquarters.
Brenton Simons is president and CEO of the society. He says the money will have “far-reaching benefits.”
The society says the Kings have deep personal interest in family and local history and their importance in education.
Free Genealogy Webinars from Legacy Family Tree
Check out these free webinars for March 2019 from Legacy Family Tree: